WORD!

"Word!"
Word is a common expression that John uses since we have been here in Southwest Arkansas. He started using it because the kids did. The kids don't use it anymore because John over-used the 'word.' I think next he will start wearing saggy britches so they can see how silly that is.
The other day we were in Mena and suddenly I realized we were not in a land of ethnic diversity. We were walking through Wal-Mart and this little boy was walking by us. John held his fist up (palm outward; he wasn't trying to hit anybody) and said to the child, "Word!"
John walked on probably not thinking anymore about it. To him, it was like saying 'hello' to the boy. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the child stopped and was looking in our direction with bewilderment on his face.
Then, I hear "Wurd to yor own self!" I turned only to see a little blond streak disappearing into the store. John never even noticed, well, until I explained my laughter.

Move Over Milk, Farting Does a Body Good

When we were coming home from our trek through Northwest Arkansas, we stopped at Sutherland's Home Center in Ft. Smith. Luke got a sand and water table for his birthday and we found no play sand in Nashville, AR. We knew that we wouldn't need it until we came home and we didn't want to take the chance of Waldron or Mena Wal-Mart not having it (Ft. Smith Wal-Mart didn't have any either). Luke was asleep and we gave Moriah the option of going in the store or we would wait while John went in and checked for sand. She opted to stay in the car.
Half the fun of having a baby in the family is being able to blame the origin of the foul odors that arise. We have tried to instill this in Moriah but she just hasn't gotten the hang of it yet.
We were sitting there in the parking lot and I began to smell something mal-odorous (that is a FultzN'It originale word). I was pretty sure the origin of the scent was from somewhere other than the inside of our vehicle (maybe not though).
"What is that smell? Did you do that?" I said to Moriah. The proper and expected response was 'No it wasn't me! It was Luke!' But instead.............
"Actually, Nickelodeon says that a healthy body does that." Moriah proudly proclaimed.
It took a moment for this to soak in to my thickness. Then, it hit me. "Does what? Fart?"
I questioned.
"Yes!" She said laughing.
John got in (with sand I might add). I was telling him the story. He turned and looked at Mo and asked her, "Moriah, are you healthy?"
"Yes! (Teeheehee)" She answered.
We may not have many amenities here on earth; but, at least we have our health!

The One That Got Away..oh, wait...I guess not!

Yesterday, we were awakened at 7:30am by the sound of a LOUD boom only to discover that there was no electricity. John's mom called Carroll Electric. Of course, it was automated and she got the recording stating that they had received several calls regarding this matter. For those of you who know nothing about living in the country, when the electric goes it isn't just a time without lights. The well pump is electric so no showers or toilets flushing. The gas stove has an electric pilot light so no breakfast. John's mother called several times because the natives were getting restless not to mention smelly. Finally, she called the sheriff's department to see if a wreck or something had knocked the power out. The sheriff's department said that pretty much the entire area was out of electricity and they had no idea why.
John and his mom were out on the porch and saw a squirrel sitting in a tree eating something bright red. John was looking for the camera and he told his dad. His dad told him to get the gun because the squirrels had been in his garden eating his tomatoes. After all, there was no electricity, we WERE in the country.............hey! I know! Let's shoot something!!!!
Needless to say, John and his dad both grabbed a gun (John with a rifle and his dad with a pistol) and went out in front of the house and commenced firing. I think they each fired about 4 times. The first shot fired the squirrel ran a little further up the tree; but, he dropped his luscious appetizer. The 2nd shot, missed again, and a little further up the tree. It reminded me of watching an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. John and his dad being the bad guys firing at Walker (the squirrel). You know, those guys can never hit Walker. But, shoot away they did. Bang! Bang! Bang!
After the last shot, a minute or so past. Lo and behold, down came the squirrel. Dead weight from the top of the tree all the way to the ground. Bless his heart! He had a heart attack and died. Isn't that a mess? Wouldn't you hate wasting all of that energy dodging bullets only to have a heart attack and plunge to the ground?
The great white hunters went to retrieve the animal and found the munchie that it was enjoying. It was a peach. They also found another dead squirrel that was laying directly under the transformer. It had entrance and exit wounds. It had been electrocuted.
A while later the Carroll Electric truck pulled up. The men went to converse with them. They said that everyone's electric was back on except for ours and they had no idea what had caused the black-out. The men showed them the fried squirrel. Wouldn't you know? Apparently, this little rodent had blown out the power for the whole countryside. This could have all been avoided if John and his dad had been out shooting pesky squirrels at 7:30 in the morning. They probably wouldn't have shot the squirrel but it would have more than likely had a heart attack before it caused the whole mountain to go dark!

Sabatical

We are in NW Ark this week. We spent a few days with my parents. We had a wonderful visit with my brother Marty and his little one, Marleigh. Luke got a new wagon for his birthday and Marleigh and Moriah really enjoyed it. Moriah pulled Marleigh down a little embankment and was kind enough to let go of the handle as Marleigh barreled uncontrollably into the fence. Gee thanks Mo! Sorry we didn't get to see you Theresa maybe when we come back through.

Luke had a check up today. 30" and 23 lb. 2 oz. He has an eye appt. on 7-31. He is a little cross eyed sometimes so we are going to get it checked out. I'm sure it is just a product of his environment. We are all a little cock-eyed at our house sometimes. Moriah opted to leave the room when Luke got his 12 month shots. She doesn't like to see "flawless skin" get "messed with."

We are visiting with John's parents right now. It's been a good afternoon. John and his dad went shooting. We could hear them and Moriah wondered "what in the world are they doing?" Luke is enjoying exploring new territory. If anybody wants to see us, feel free to come by here. We will be here all weekend!

I don't have any "kid" stories today. I have a John story but I must edit it in my head before I blog it.

Happy Father's Day

If anybody calls you "Dad," I hope you had a blessed day. Our church didn't have evening services tonight so that we could spend time with our dads. John and I didn't get to see our dads today but we did call them. We will see them this next week. Moriah and Luke are so lucky that they spent the whole day with their dad. John got some hunting boots and the lunch of his choice (which turned out to be all you can eat crab legs at the china buffet). I also added some more pix to his ever growing Father's Day card (I gave him a card 2 years ago of all of the good pix of he and Moriah, this year I added some more of he and Mo, he and Luke, and he and both!
If you are still lucky enough to have your dad, call him and tell him hello and Happy Father's Day. If you don't read this until later, call him and tell him you love him and wish him a belated happy father's day. God bless 'em aren't we glad we have them!!

Happy Birthday, Luke!!!!

It's hard to believe that it has been 1 year. Our little man! I got to say for the first time "1 year ago today at this very time (12:53pm), you came into our lives." We had a really good day. We went to CiCi's and ate pizza and then went to the Best Western in Atlanta to spend the night. We ate cake and opened presents and fun was had by all. Luke dove into the cake and wiped the chocolate icing all over him. It was great! John told Moriah to hold Luke so he wouldn't crawl off of the table. Moriah started gagging like 'Ol' Faithful' was about to erupt and saying that it looked like poop. I had to eat some of the icing that was on Luke's leg to show her there was nothing to barf about. I must admit that it was a bit hard to choke it down since she was gagging over it!
When we left the hotel, John told them there was a towel in the room that was soiled. He said, "I wanted you to know that it is just chocolate!" Some man was checking into the hotel and he said, "I don't know! He (Luke) looks like he just did something on'ry!"
Which reminds me, we got him a t-shirt for his birthday that says "I'm definitely up to something!"

What is a Scontion?

The Mineral Springs fight song is On Wisconsin! Not so much a fight song; but, it's what the band plays when the Hornets score. John always sings, "On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin, on Wisconsin, On!," over and over and over all the way through the song. Of course, you live with insanity and it starts to rub off. I sing it. I thought Moriah did too! (Sad little sidenote: Some of the band kids thought that those were the actual words....so sheltered and naive; yet, so worldly!)
Last night, Moriah was doing some of her "cheerleading kicks." She said, "I need to practice dancing. What is that song that the band plays that always makes the cheerleaders start doing their dance?"
"I don't know." I answered.
She said, "Yeah you do. You know, On Your Scontion."

Indian?????

After we got to Mom and Dad's house from Precious Moments, we spent a few days with them. I had talked with my sister-in-law, Theresa, before we went to Missouri and we had made plans to go to the Alma water park with the kids. My niece, Marleigh, rode to the park with Moriah, Luke, and me. We had a blast! We cranked the tunes (Chicken Little Soundtrack) and rocked all the way there.
Before we arrived at the AquaPark, Moriah started putting on her sunscreen. She always puts sunscreen on when she goes swimming. Although this is a good habit to get into at a young age, it is unnecessary during those times that the pool is INDOORS!!!! On this particular day, however, sunscreen was very necessary for the pigment-impaired.
She offered her cousin Marleigh some of her sunscreen. Marleigh told Moriah that she didn't need sunscreen because she didn't burn. Moriah, of course, asked, "How come?"
Marleigh replied, "Because I'm Indian."
Moriah stated, "Uh-uh! You ain't from no India!"
I explained to Moriah that Marleigh is an Indian but not from India; she is a Native American Indian. Marleigh began her own explanation. "Yes." she said, "It is on the Glasgow side. Not all Indians are dark-skinned, some are light like me and have blue eyes."
Moriah was amazed at this new revelation. "Really?"
Marleigh said, "Really! That's what they call me. A blond, blue-eyed white Indian girl!"

Precious Moments

Recently, Mom, Moriah, Luke, and I went to Carthage, Missouri to visit the Precious Moments chapel. We spent the night at the Best Western Precious Moments Hotel. It was the color of this font. Moriah loved it!!! She jumped out of the car and pulled her pink shirt out and said, "Mom, LOOK! What do I match?" (Because everything has to be in the form of a question). She was so excited and kept saying "Look! The whole place is PINK!" I didn't think we would ever get checked in because much like Fatal Attraction, she will not be ignored.
The highlight of the evening was the indoor pool. It was wonderful because it rained all night. The pool was open until midnight but by the Grace of God she wore down before then. Mom was in the room and wasn't feeling well. Luke was getting a little waterlogged. And, there were like 12 kids in the pool area. I find myself with what seems to be less and less toleration of other people's. Even though they weren't really that bad, the third time I got walloped up the side of the head with one of those neoprene sponge balls, I was done. I had managed to talk Moriah in to going to bed, yea!
As we were leaving the pool area, the Pizza Hut delivery guy walked in with about 4 pizzas and handed to one of the ladies that was in there with the mob. Moriah trotted over to me and exclaimed "Momma! That guy just walked in here and gave them PIZZA!!!!" Oh please, let me be the only one that heard that! My cry-out was to no avail. The lady carrying the pizza over to the table grinned at me. I told her "You know, we do get out a little more than that." She asked "Would it be okay if she has a piece of pizza with the kids?" I graciously declined stating that we had just eaten before we came to the pool. It was actually about an hour before but it was around 10:30 at that moment, much too late for anyone to be eating. I thanked her for asking. It geniunely was kind and I did appreciate that.
But. you know, the more I think about it, I don't ever remember us having pizza delivered anywhere. We have always either picked it up or eaten it there. It had never occurred to me that a man walking in and handing someone a pizza would be foreign to her.

Scuba MoLuke

We FINALLY put Moriah's pool up. She has one of the little 12 X 3 feet pools that you get at Wal-Mart. You know how it goes. We bought it last year and a few weeks after we got it...we could have gotten the 18' for the same price. But, that is just my luck and I shouldn't dwell on that. We put it in our driveway which is the most level place we could find. We tried the backyard and it ended up being more like 2 feet deep.
ANYHOW!!!!!!!!!! (I ramble a lot)
Moriah took swim lessons last year in Waldron. She really enjoyed it and learned quite a bit but we still haven't mastered jumping in from the side. Can't jump in from the side of this pool so that isn't really a problem. However, John has managed to prove his abilities by running to dive into the pool.
We kept noticing the sheer joy that Luke was getting when Moriah would go under to get her diving rings. We thought that he just thought it was funny, like peek-a-boo. Apparently though, he thought it looked fun.
I had him in his baby boat and he leaned over and put his face in the water. It was about time for his afternoon nap so I thought he was just tired so I took him out of the pool. John took him back in the pool later that afternoon. John just held him. He literally jumped from his daddy's arms trying to get under the water.
I guess we will have to be very careful with this one. We already knew that though.

Badonkadonk Boy!!!!!!!!!

He's not even 1 and he is already acting like a man! We were watching Trace Adkins sing "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk." Luke was sitting in the middle of our family room floor, bottle hanging out of his mouth, and dancing. When I asked John if he was watching his son, Luke turned to look at me. He had a big smile on his face, dropped the bottle, and milk ran all down his face and shirt. He just started screaming and laughing. Oh my! Where is the camcorder when you need it?

Here's a Proud Moment for Ya!

Recently, we went with John's band to Wild River Country in LR. This was Luke's first trip to a water park. He seemed to really enjoy the Lazy River. Which, coincidentally, was the only thing I could do on last year's trip to WRC. He has a little boat that he sits in and swats at the water. It's really cute to watch.
Luke has recently put himself on a schedule. I guess it's a good thing one of us is organized. He wakes up between 7 and 7:30; takes a nap at 10; and takes another nap around 2. One of these naps will be about 20 minutes and the other is usually 2 hours (this is not important to this story just an FYI). Both of these naps fell during the time period we were at the park.
The afternoon nap, I laid down on a chaise lounge chair and sat Luke on top of me. He was laying on my tummy so peacefully and cute. He sat up rather suddenly and looked at me (seemed to be a little scared). Then, I felt a warm feeling come over me. Ah Luke, that was just wrong. Those Lil Swimmers DO NOT absorb liquids very well.
John came and took his shift. He had the honor of changing Luke. He was a little muddy; if you get my drift. He said, famous last words, "I'm just going to take him in the shower and wash him off."
John takes Luke in the men's showers. He is gone and gone and gone.....and gone for what seemed like forever. He returns and I asked what had taken him so long. "Well," he said, "there was no warm water and when I held Luke's bare butt to the the cold water it put him in some sort of shock and he pooped all over the shower! It just started shootin' out of him!"
Ewwwwwww!!!!!!! That is so gross!!!!